May 2024 – The April 2024 Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor saw Jaguar re-enter the top 10 brands for the first time since September 2023, with an average retail margin of £3,300. This secured it the second spot, behind JLR stablemate Land Rover (£4,000).
Dealer Auction’s Marketplace Director, Kieran TeeBoon, commented: “Jaguar’s resurgence after a seven-month hiatus demonstrates the importance of staying on top of changing consumer demand. Jaguar has always been a big profit turner, but this month it hit our units sold threshold, indicating rekindled buyer interest. Whether this marks a lasting trend remains to be seen, but it certainly prompts a closer examination of shifting market dynamics.”
Škoda was another new entry, joining for the first time this year. It ranked in tenth place, with an average retail margin of £2,225.
Continuing the trend of premium brands delivering strong returns, third-place BMW (£2,950) enjoyed a strong month all round, with its 5 and 3 Series models ranking third and fourth in the model top 10. They clocked average retail margins of £3,400 and £3,050 respectively.
Delving deeper into the model table, it was a strong month for Land Rover, with three featuring in the list. The Discovery Sport topped the chart with an average retail margin of £5,000 – the highest estimated profit achieved so far this year and just short of the highest-ever margin achieved (the Land Rover Discovery 4 clocked a profit of £5,100 in August 2022). The Range Rover Evoque followed in second place (£3,825) and the Freelander 2 appeared for the first time since July 2023, securing tenth spot (£2,590).
Looking at the other metrics in the model top 10, a standout was the Mazda CX-5. The family SUV was not only the fastest-selling profit-turner in April, but it is also the fastest in 2024 so far, with an average of 31 days to sale.
Elsewhere, the only mainstream model to feature was the Ford S-MAX, which appeared for the third time. Although other mainstream models like the Ford Kuga and Hyundai Tucson were waiting in the wings, they couldn’t crack April’s top 10.
TeeBoon concluded: “The appearance of the S-MAX people carrier isn’t exactly a shock twist, as the overall top 10 remains monopolised by premium brands. However, it could indicate seasonal shifts in consumer preferences towards family-oriented models. With so many different forces at play in the used car market, there could well be potential for family cars to carve out a significant share in the summer market.”
Richard Walker, Data and Insight Director at Auto Trader commented on the monitor: “Healthy margins are indicative of the strong underlying health of the market. On Auto Trader we’re seeing retailers sell more stock, and more quickly as the very robust consumer demand we’ve tracked since the new year continues into Q2.
“As the changes within the margin monitor show, the retail market is both fast moving and nuanced, and so it’s vital retailers are running a data-driven operation to maximise profit potential.”
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About Dealer Auction
Dealer Auction is the UK’s leading digital remarketing platform. We give buyers and sellers more choice, better insight and greater margins. Dealer Auction is an independent company, created through a joint venture between Cox Automotive and Auto Trader. For more information, visit www.dealerauction.co.uk.
Launched in January 2022, Dealer Auction’s Retail Margin Monitor tracks the potential retail margin that can be achieved on vehicles bought via Dealer Auction’s open network. We track models meeting two key criteria: more than 20 units sold with a retail price of less than £25,000. We then compare the sold price for each model with the Auto Trader market average to reveal the potential margin. For the brand table, we compare models with more than 50 units sold. We crunch the numbers at the start of every new month.
Notes:
1The average ‘Auto Trader Retail Rating’ uses three key metrics to determine the consumer demand for the vehicle:
- Average days to sell – Calculated for the whole of the UK and then adjusted for the variations Auto Trader have observed locally in your area.
- Live market supply – Comparing the national supply level for the vehicle over the last seven days with the usual level of supply Auto Trader have seen in the market over the last six months.
- Live buyer demand – Analysing how many people are currently searching for the vehicle on Auto Trader, comparing consumer search behaviour over the last seven days against the level of interest over the last six months.
